


Forgiveness

by Silent_So_Long



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Arguing, Community: writers_choice, Forgiveness, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-29
Updated: 2012-01-29
Packaged: 2017-10-30 07:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/329291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silent_So_Long/pseuds/Silent_So_Long
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim and Leonard have an argument; will Leonard accept Jim’s apology?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forgiveness

**Author's Note:**

> Written for writers_choice [challenge #441](http://writers-choice.livejournal.com/464985) which was the combined word and image prompt of a bench.

The sun was setting, bright orange rays flooding the sky as the flaming orb descended towards the horizon. Leonard sat alone, elbows propped upon his knees, large hands hanging loose between his spread legs. Occasionally, his long fingers would move, flicking away an overly-inquisitive fly that would come too close to landing upon him. 

All around him, Leonard could hear cicadas buzzing in the trees, as the day cycled down to its close. Humidity hung in the air, pressing down upon his shoulders, yet Leonard barely noticed the heat. It was typical for Georgia, after all. Despite having left his home state some years previously, heading for medical school, Starfleet Academy, and eventually the cold reaches of space, it felt to him then as though he had never left. The humidity hadn’t changed, at least, even if he, himself, had. He’d been through a lot, yet still he was fairly contented with his life as it stood right now, if he ignored the disease rampant in space. 

He sighed, thinking of the argument that had occurred between him and Jim not a half hour before. Leonard had been in Georgia for a week, and had heard of Jim’s latest exploits in space, almost getting killed by a giant Rapterian slug while saving people on Rapter. That had been three days ago. Leonard had bided his time until Jim could take some much needed shore leave, returning to the house that he shared with Leonard when they were on Earth, exultant in his recent exploits with the slug. When he’d revealed just how close to dying he’d actually come, Leonard, not unreasonably, had hit the roof, angered by the reckless stupidity his boyfriend had displayed. 

Leonard felt that fear he’d felt earlier in the evening spike through him again, of not being there to help Jim if he’d been injured, or at least make the attempt to stop Jim from indulging in reckless behaviour. Leonard tried not to think of what it would have been like for him if Jim had died. Loss swept unbidden through him, and he stared unseeingly at the sunset before him, jaw working as he tried not to give into the anger and the fear that swept through him again.

He heard movement behind him, footsteps coming closer yet he didn’t turn. He knew who it would be; that it would be Jim would be inevitable. He also wasn’t surprised at how fast Jim had found him; after all, it had been almost half an hour since their argument, causing Leonard to stalk away in anger, leaving Jim behind. Leonard hadn‘t stopped until he reached the park close to his house, and sat alone amidst the flowers and the trees, with only the cicadas for company. He’d needed the fresh air, the time to think, and the chance for Jim to catch up with him so they could talk alone. 

Leonard felt Jim approach and stand quietly by the bench, even though Leonard had already purposefully left enough room when he’d arrived for another body, or potential other body. Leonard glanced up and saw Jim watching the sunset, full lips pinched into a look of wary concentration, dark brows pulled low over guileless blue eyes that were lit by the rays of the dying sun. Jim looked understandably tense, shoulders squared and hands twining and constantly moving behind his back, even though it was obvious to Leonard that Jim was trying hard not to show that tension. Leonard was an expert at reading people, after all, especially Jim. He’d had plenty of practice in regards to Jim over the years.

“Dammit, Jim, sit down,” Leonard finally said, breaking the silence first. “You make me nervous when you loom.” 

“I don’t loom, Bones,” Jim said, with an easy grin that was almost genuine.

It touched his eyes momentarily, at least, Leonard was glad to note, causing myriad crinkles to dip into the skin around the other man’s eyes. Leonard found himself smiling back; he could never meet Jim’s grin without smiling back in return. He watched as Jim settled beside him, thighs touching and he didn’t move away. Instead, he exhaled loudly, and at great length. Despite feeling angry previously, he was glad that Jim was there. Leonard, although a grumpy person on the outside, hated to fight, especially if that fight was with Jim. In all the years that he’d known the captain, he couldn’t ever recall ever having an argument as heated with Jim before, an occasion that was all the rarer after starting a relationship with the other man. 

“I hate this, you know,” Jim suddenly said. “I hate fighting with anyone, but especially with you.” 

Leonard harrumphed, but kept his expression deliberately soft when Jim glanced his way.

“I was thinking the exact same thing, just now,” Leonard admitted, quietness of his tone bringing out the softness of his accent. “You’re still at fault, though, Jim. I hope you know that.” 

“I know,” Jim said, easily, as though it had never occurred to him to admit otherwise. “It just makes it all the worse, doesn’t it?” 

Leonard didn’t answer; instead, he watched as Jim laid one hand tentatively upon his knee. He didn’t shake the other man away, which made some of the tension bleed away from Jim’s body and expression. His fingers curled and tightened against Leonard’s knee, inching up until it was a comfortable weight against Leonard’s thigh.

“I’m sorry, babe, I really am,” Jim said, meeting Leonard’s intense gaze head-on. “I didn’t mean to upset you or anything.” 

“I know that, darlin’,” Leonard sighed, as he scrubbed one hand over his face wearily. “I just don’t know why you did it, though.” 

Jim sighed, and leant back against the wooden slatting of the bench behind him, looking more tired than Leonard had ever seen him. Leonard searched Jim’s face, all cheeky good humour and apology gone from the other man’s face; instead, Jim looked serious, almost forbidding, lips forming a small pout as he thought. Jim’s eyes, bluer than ever in the rays of the setting sun, finally came to rest upon Leonard’s face and the captain, at least, tried to give a semblance of a smile. 

“Trying to ask me to be anything other than I am is a tough call, you know,” Jim said, musingly. “I’m Jim Kirk, and I can’t be anyone else. Danger sort of comes with the job. You oughta know that; you‘re the one who‘s obsessed with space diseases and Andorian shingles.”

“I know that, Jim. Space diseases are very real and sometimes they can’t be avoided. At least if you get sick, I can help you. If you die, then there’s nothing I can do. I’ll just be left here, alone and mourning. All I was saying earlier, is to stop putting yourself in needless danger. You’re reckless and insouciant, to the point of putting yourself purposefully in the path of death,” Leonard said. “Look, Jim, I love ya, right? I don’t want you to die. By all means, do your part as a Starfleet Captain. That’s your job. Just do it responsibly and return safe. To me.” 

Jim sighed, slim shoulders sagging beneath the weight of his t shirt, thin cotton sticking to his skin in the Georgia heat. He rubbed one hand through his hair, making the fine strands stick out in odd clumps. Leonard tried not to think about how that made Jim look like a recalcitrant child, especially when coupled with Jim’s patented, apologetic puppy eyed look. 

“You’re right, Bones,” Jim murmured. “I’m sorry. I was reckless the other day, stupid. I could have saved those people without getting almost killed myself. I just wasn‘t thinking.”

He reached out to take Leonard’s hand and the doctor allowed the contact, immediately twining his fingers through Jim’s. Jim smiled at that, sadness tingeing his usual charming grin, as his eyes searched Leonard’s face. He looked so mournful then, that Leonard knew that the emotion must have been genuine. Jim was a lot of things, reckless, insouciant, but he was never a liar, nor was he a very good actor, at least not with those who mattered. Leonard knew then that he mattered a great deal to Jim, that Jim could never lie to him or purposefully harm him. 

“Too right you weren’t thinking,” Leonard said, gently. “At least when I’m there, I can put you back together again as best as I can. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again, without question. Dammit, Jim, I know you. You and trouble go hand in hand. Just don’t get yourself killed through being stupid. That’s all I’m asking.” 

“I know, babe, I know,” Jim said, before falling silent again, taking his hand back from Leonard to rub at his chin.

Leonard sat back, back resting against the hard wooden slats behind him, one arm draped over the back of the bench, hand curling around Jim’s shoulders. Jim leant a little into Leonard’s half-embrace, eyes drifting half-closed like the world’s largest, most contented cat. Leonard wouldn’t have been surprised if the other man had started to purr, yet was glad when Jim didn’t. Much as Jim looked contented, actual purring would have been plain creepy. 

“I’m really sorry, Bones. It won’t happen again,” Jim said, quietly, leaning in a little more to stare at Leonard’s mouth purposefully. 

“You better make sure it doesn’t, m’dear,” Leonard said, warningly, fingers tightening imperceptibly against Jim’s shoulder. 

“You know I love you, right?” Jim asked, quietly, eyes ghosting up Leonard’s face and resting upon his eyes.

Leonard could see the truth in Jim’s eyes, then, that Jim truly meant what he was saying. He leant a little heavily against the other man and dropped a forgiving kiss upon the other man’s temple. He felt Jim sigh, exhale forcefully as though Jim had been holding a breath and Leonard hadn’t been aware of it until then. 

“Yeah, I know, darlin’,” Leonard said, quietly, without hesitation. “I love ya, too, Jim, but just, you know, don’t do that again.” 

Jim relaxed a little more into Leonard then, a smile making its way into his eyes fully then. He cupped one hand around Leonard’s chin, skin surprisingly cool against him, as he peppered small kisses around Leonard’s mouth. Leonard didn’t turn away; instead, he held his breath, turned into Jim a little more and waited until the other pressed a proper kiss against his lips. Leonard rested one hand against Jim’s neck, long fingers curling against the other man’s collar and pulling him in closer, opening his mouth when Jim pressed an insistent tongue against the seam of his mouth. 

Leonard felt contentment then coiling through him, with Jim a very real, very warm weight against him. He returned Jim’s kisses fervently, each kiss filled with forgiveness and love, mouth a warm weight against Jim’s. He felt Jim’s hand rest lightly upon the back of his neck, pulling him in still further as the rays of the setting sun disappeared over the horizon. The sky cycled down into twilight star-filled dimness, Georgia heat cooling a little with the onset of night. The moon began to appear, shining reflective surface smiling down upon the still kissing couple, tender forgiveness apparent with every move that they made. 

~~ the end ~~


End file.
